api

In Google we trust?

The more Google grows, the more it becomes a cause for concern for many people--and not simply its competitors. But should it?

On the one hand, Google has become a privacy bogeyman, dropping off the list of the top 20 companies trusted with customer privacy. Ironically, this has come at the same time that Google has upped its commitment to open data policies, which enable users to control their own data privacy policies. Are users suggesting that they can't trust themselves?

This abandonment of trust in Google also comes in the face of an ever-growing commitment within Google to … Read more

Buzz Out Loud 873: Drunk sexy lunch

Listen all the way to the end of the show in order to understand what this title is all about. Wow, it's been quite the week here at BOL. But in actual news, the latest IE zero-day exploit just keeps getting worse (use another browser, people), the iPhone 3G has been unlocked, and Twitter is making millions...for other companies. Listen now: Download today's podcast EPISODE 873

Major security alert for Microsoft Internet Explorer http://www.obsessable.com/news/2008/12/16/major-security-alert-for-microsoft-internet-explorer/ http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/16/AR2008121601022.html http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/12/16/1319217… Read more

Userplane chat plays nice with social networks

AOL-owned Userplane, a provider of social software for online communities, announced Tuesday that users of the company's chat app will now be able to chat with others regardless of the platform they're using.

According to the company, Userplane's Chat app will work with MySpace, Facebook, Friendster, Ning, Flux, and Bebo. Userplane claims that it will continue to expand its chat app's compatibility with other services, since it will work on any social network that offers an open API.

"Users check in with multiple social communities every day and their connections shouldn't be limited to … Read more

Google graphing tool outgrows sheltered childhood

A Google visualization tool that converts raw numeric data into charts, graphs, tables, maps, and plots has outgrown its initial ties to the company's online spreadsheet application.

The Google Visualization API (application programming interface) previously could construct the graphics only from data stored on Google Spreadsheets. Now any Web-based data source, including databases and Microsoft Excel spreadsheets, can be used, Google said.

Google made the announcement in conjunction with Salesforce.com's Dreamforce conference Monday. Salesforce.com is adding its own new tools and technology atop the interface so its customers can more easily employ the visualization feature. For … Read more

The new AOL.com gets all social and stuff

Social networks are front and center in the latest redesign of AOL's AOL.com homepage, which the company announced Thursday and says it will start to gradually roll out to users over the next few weeks (unless they choose to opt in earlier).

A widget (or module, or gadget, or whatever you want to call it) on the new AOL.com features a tabbed interface with updates from five different social-networking and messaging services: AOL's own AIM and Bebo, MySpace, Twitter, and Facebook. Called "My Networks," the tabs invite members to log into their social profiles … Read more

'The New York Times' offers up movie reviews API

The New York Times announced that it has launched a movie reviews API that will make it easier for visitors to access the publication's library of 22,000 movie reviews dating back to 1924.

Realizing that it's sitting on a vast library of movie reviews and its current RSS feed only displays the latest 65 articles, the Times decided that it needed to give its readers access to its entire library of reviews to complement its current offering and make it easier for visitors to find all the film information they're looking for.

So far, the Times … Read more

Yahoo and Google race to rebuild sites, lure coders

Note: this story was updated at 12:34 p.m. PDT with analysis and information about Google.

It's like watching a race between two glaciers.

Yahoo and Google are undeniably the two biggest powers on the Internet, each with a vast number of features and users. Each is trying to remake itself during a time when faster-moving start-ups show how hard it is for a massive site to transform itself.

But change is indeed in the works, and given the companies' scale, it's profound for both companies and for millions of people using the Internet.

On Tuesday, Yahoo … Read more

Yahoo to expose its wiring to developers next week

SAN FRANCISCO--Phase one came last week, when Yahoo launched its new profiles site. Phase two begins next week, when Web developers can start sinking their teeth into Yahoo's attempt to replace its present static design with one that's customizable, application-rich, socially connected, and woven into other parts of the Internet.

Developers are essential to what the company calls the Yahoo Open Strategy. Yahoo is building the foundation, but it will be the arrival of others' applications that will show whether Yahoo's transformation attempt is fulfilling those hopes.

"That starts changing Yahoo from a walled garden to … Read more

Academics sink teeth into Yahoo search service

SUNNYVALE, Calif.--It only took a few years for the science of information retrieval to move from an obscure academic niche to the secretive research departments at the heart of multibillion-dollar Internet companies.

But one of those companies, Yahoo, is trying to give a little more power back to the professors and grad students through a program called BOSS (Build Your Own Search Service). The service lets academics and start-ups build their own search sites around Yahoo's search engine for free, manipulating results however they want.

Two dozen researchers and students from Stanford, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Purdue, … Read more

New Wikia interface enables search-results apps

Wikia Search has released an interface called Wikia Intelligent Search Extensions (WISE) that lets sites build their search results into custom-made applications.

WISE launched Wednesday with a number of partners offering sample "WISEapps," including AccuWeather, Digg, and The Washington Post, which built an application that can show its news articles directly within search results.

The technology is similar to Yahoo's SearchMonkey.

Incorporating the collaborative Wiki philosophy, Wikia Search lets people edit search results, including the order in which results appear. Google has begun a much narrower experiment that lets people move, add, and remove search results, but … Read more